BlackBerry Reconstructing Its App World

Facebook? Check. Twitter? Check. Oh, but where is Angry Birds? And what about YouTube?

RIM (Research In Motion) needs to come up with a lot more than merely clever new features if it wants BlackBerry 10 to be the protagonist of a potentially remarkable revival. As far as consumers and workers of BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) are concerned, the new platform’s success, or indeed lack thereof, would depend upon the offered hardware, and also on the content and the apps that are available during its launch in the early part of next year. Just as the hacking mafia ups the ante on BlackBerry spy software and other cellphone spy software for the platform, it is becoming increasingly pivotal for RIM to carve out an appealing app world.

What Shall Be on the Table?

RIM hasn’t exactly been vocal about the BlackBerry 10 devices and what they might put on the table, even though the emblematic QWERTY keyboard is said to be there along with full touchscreen. The prototype that is seeded to BB10 developers can hint toward what the device would be like — and it does look promising when one sees the big, high-resolution screen coupled with fluid performance and rather slim proportions.

BB’s App World has about 105,000 apps as things stand, and three billion downloads have been clocked ever since its opening three years back. But herein lies the issue as well, since none of these apps are compatible with BlackBerry 10, which basically connotes that the developers would now need to port their apps — every single one of them — to the latest platform.

Driving On…

Despite all of these problems, RIM still has shown promise and drive with regards to the future, whenever it has been put in the media limelight. The RIM hierarchy is adamant that the firm is working with literally hundreds of partners as things stand and that there are hordes of developers that are supporting BlackBerry 10. The word is that every single one of the major international social networks would have BB10 applications. This basically means that Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Foursquare are all in the RIM bag. And while the flipside would mean a hike in apprehension regarding BlackBerry spy software and cellphone monitoring software, the positives outweigh the negatives by a good many times.

50 and Counting…

However, when one delves into the list of BlackBerry’s partners, they aren’t quite the “hundreds” that are being peddled; they are actually 50. The ones that stand out are PressReader, Box.net, TruPhone, AccuWeather, and Tuneln, but there are many other names that pad and puff up the list. But then again, BlackBerry is adamant that the list in question is actually just the proverbial iceberg’s tip and that there will be a precipitous growth from now until the launch of the latest BlackBerry software.

RIM is also planning on selling TV shows, music, and movies as well for the very first time since the inception of BlackBerry App World through BB10. This latest maneuver would put BlackBerry on par with the Apple ecosystem especially with regards to multimedia, which would even give it the edge over Android and Windows Phone — the former only has movies, TV shows, and books; the latter only offers music. And then there is the prospect of the BlackBerry Newsstand, which would have a myriad of magazine titles available including the likes of Bazaar, Conde Nast Traveller, Good Housekeeping, Wired, et al.

Developing the App World

Both the RIM content and apps, which were demonstrated at the recent BlackBerry Jam, make for a solid start, but there is still a dire need of inviting some big guns from the world of developers. If anything, there is a massive lesson out there to be learned from PlayBook, which was launched before there was a large enough app ecosystem. With the launch of BlackBerry 10, it is extremely pivotal that BlackBerry expands its catalogue of apps.

James Clark has been in the business of providing quality information on mobile spy for a while now. He’s an expert at all things spyware, but his main forte is Spy software for BlackBerry, which has captured the interest of many.

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